<?php
$link = mysqli_connect("127.0.0.1", "my_user", "my_password", "sakila");
/* check connection */
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
    printf("Connect failed: %s\n", mysqli_connect_error());
    exit();
}
foreach (array('latin1', 'utf8') as $charset) {
    // Set character set, to show its impact on some values (e.g., length in bytes)
    mysqli_set_charset($link, $charset);
    $query = "SELECT actor_id, last_name from actor ORDER BY actor_id";
    echo "======================\n";
    echo "Character Set: $charset\n";
    echo "======================\n";
    if ($result = mysqli_query($link, $query)) {
        /* Get field information for all columns */
        $finfo = mysqli_fetch_fields($result);
        foreach ($finfo as $val) {
            printf("Name:      %s\n",   $val->name);
            printf("Table:     %s\n",   $val->table);
            printf("Max. Len:  %d\n",   $val->max_length);
            printf("Length:    %d\n",   $val->length);
            printf("charsetnr: %d\n",   $val->charsetnr);
            printf("Flags:     %d\n",   $val->flags);
            printf("Type:      %d\n\n", $val->type);
        }
        mysqli_free_result($result);
    }
}
mysqli_close($link);
?>
    
   I precedenti esempi visualizzeranno:
======================
Character Set: latin1
======================
Name:      actor_id
Table:     actor
Max. Len:  3
Length:    5
charsetnr: 63
Flags:     49699
Type:      2
Name:      last_name
Table:     actor
Max. Len:  12
Length:    45
charsetnr: 8
Flags:     20489
Type:      253
======================
Character Set: utf8
======================
Name:      actor_id
Table:     actor
Max. Len:  3
Length:    5
charsetnr: 63
Flags:     49699
Type:      2
Name:      last_name
Table:     actor
Max. Len:  12
Length:    135
charsetnr: 33
Flags:     20489